America's Next Top Model Cycle 21 Winner Is Keith Carlos: First Ever Male Winner And Former NFL Wide Receiver Discusses What It's Like To Be On Top [PHOTO]

The CW reality TV show "America's Next Top Model" has just ended its 21st cycle by making history: a male model has won! The lucky and talented man we speak of is Keith Carlos, an athletic and seductive former NFL wide receiver with looks reminiscent of Tyson Beckford.

Cycle 21 of the show offered up some pretty heavy competition, especially on the male side - the final three in the finale were all male models as well! The trio consisted of Will Jardel, Keith Carlos, and Adam Smith, and they battled it out on the runway in Seoul, South Korea for their final challenge.

 When asked how he felt when he heard he was going to the finals, Carlos stated, "It was very suspenseful. My chest was in my stomach. It was a shock. I couldn't believe it. I was overjoyed, and I was happy to still be in the running," conveying both his surprise and appreciation that he was still in the running.

Throughout the show, Carlos was often critiqued on how stiff and nervous he appeared, especially when being critiqued on photo shoots. He discussed how learning to listen to critique well correlated a lot with his football career, stating, "I correlate everything to football because that's where I learned a lot about dealing with the ups and downs. I just knew I had to take the critiques and apply them. I knew that I would be okay as long as I kept my challenge scores high and gave an okay-to-stellar performance at my photo shoot. It was just a game of numbers."

However, though he did learn to deal with critiques, Carlos did feel a lot of pressure from one model in particular. When asked who his biggest competition was, he assured us that it was primarily Will Jardel, the 6'5" contestant who continuously put out great work. Carlos said, "I always looked at Will as huge competition. He has a great look-he's a model all around. The only thing I knew that worked against him was his size [6'5″]. But Adam [Smith] had a great performance. Every week at the end, he was winning everything, and I'm like, "Uh oh, what's going on here?" It really put the fire underneath me, and I knew I had to do something."

Well, Carlos did do something - he won! Congratulations, Keith!

Tags
America's Next Top Model
Keith Carlos
NFL
Cycle 21
Will Jardel
Adam Smith
tyra banks
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